PORT GAMBLE — Pope Resources postponed logging 72 acres of its Port Gamble uplands block.

Pope Resources president David Nunes said Wednesday he was notified by Michelle Connor of conservation group Forterra that the tree harvest “could create complexities in the potential for using Navy mitigation money to acquire a subset of the Port Gamble uplands block.”

He added, “Once this became clear to us, we realized that it made no sense to proceed with this harvest if it was going to potentially put in jeopardy the ability to do a larger transaction on this block as part of the Forterra option agreement.”

Forterra is under a March 28 deadline to raise money to buy 7,000 acres of North Kitsap forest land from Pope. The land would be conserved as public open space; conservation of a shoreline portion is considered crucial to the continued restoration of the bay’s health.

An appraisal is expected to be completed by the year’s end.